That picture looks much more complex one week later. The final death toll was 17, plus three suspects killed.
The threads that investigators have followed from the newsroom of the satirical magazine have led to other countries, including Yemen, Turkey, Syria and Bulgaria.
The untangling of who was behind the attack has also revealed other suspects, and there have been claims of links to the biggest terrorist groups, al Qaeda and ISIS, which now calls itself the Islamic State.
Here is a look at the key people, places and questions that the investigative trail has led authorities to:
How many accomplices remain at large?
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has virtually ruled out a “lone wolf” scenario.
Besides Said and Cherif Kouachi, the brothers identified as the shooters and later killed by police, another man, Amedy Coulibaly, has been linked to the attack. Police killed him last week after he took hostages at a Paris kosher grocery store.
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Is France in danger of additional attacks?
As French officials dig deeper into the suspects behind the attack, they must deal with a new threat from an al Qaeda affiliate.
The affiliate in North Africa, the Islamic Maghred, published a threat against France on jihadist websites.
“France pays the cost of its violence on Muslim countries and the violation of their sanctity,” AQIM said in its statement.
“As long as its soldiers occupy countries such as Mali and Central Africa and bombard our people in Syria and Iraq, and as long as its lame media continues to undermine our Prophet (Mohammed), France will expose itself to the worst and more.”
This article is based on reporting from across all of CNN’s platforms.
